Day 38 - No Man Left Behind

​As we continue to study how to “Engage in battle with the enemy” we must not forget we never go into battle alone. After Jesus was tempted in the wilderness and tested, he won the first battle he was faced with. In the face of the enemy and with the great temptation He was able to repel the attacks of the enemy before beginning His ministry.
As Jesus was beginning his ministry, the first thing He sets out to do is not build an Army, write a book or even build a temple. The first thing He decided to do is go out and recruit a team. He picks common folk, with problems and regular people, simple fishermen to be on his team (Matthew 4:18). The first thing Jesus does, as recorded in the book of Matthew is He preaches throughout Galilee. He taught in the synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness among the people, he sets out to do battle. The Bible records Jesus healing the sick, those suffering in pain, the demon-possessed and those who had seizures (Matthew 4:24). He was ready to begin doing battle, and He had his team with Him.
This brings up today's point, we never go into battle alone, we have other soldiers in Gods army that have our backs, and we have theirs, this is part of our strategy. When I was a police officer, we had a rule, strength in numbers. When we responded to incidents and problems, we waited for backup to arrive and we went into the scene as a team. When I was in the military, and we would go out on missions, we had a squad of people with us who had our backs, and we had theirs. Jesus who is our great example of leadership did not establish His team of disciples by accident, He knew what he was doing. Matthews account of the gospel teaches that Jesus gave the sermon on the mount, went through the land healing and preaching and then in Matthew 10, He sends the disciples out on their own to do battle. This brings up another point; following Jesus will equip us for the battles. I’m talking about the nitty-gritty daily battles against the enemy that we face every day. The enemy has come to steal, kill and destroy and his tactic is division. He wants to do anything that will divide us between him and the Lord. Satan doesn’t care who we worship as long as it's not God; in fact, he doesn’t care if we worship God as long as we don’t live like God. We are engaged in a daily battle, and every believer has enlisted in Gods Army of soldiers for His glory and goodness!
So, Jesus has laid the foundation, He has built His team, equipped them, trained them, taught them, no he is sending them out to do battle with the enemy (Matthew 10). The scripture tells us that Jesus gave the twelve disciples the power to drive out impure spirits and to heal every disease and sickness (Matthew 10:1).  He gives them detailed instructions to fight against persecution and to be on guard (Matthew 10:16).  The same instructions and strategy Jesus used here we are called to follow and use the same battle plan. Jesus never went into battle alone and neither should we.
Gods nature is love and communion, and he created humans for a relationship with Him, and with each other, we must develop trusting relationships with people that we can do battle with. We should be intentional about who are discipling and putting on our team.
My challenge for you today is to understand that we are engaged in a battle with the enemy, we must use prayer and scripture as our weapon, and we don’t ever do battle alone! Do you have a team around you of disciples that you are intentional about developing and preparing for battle? Have you been working on your battle plan and strategy to fight the enemy and his attacks?
God bless!